C. Everett Koop, ex-surgeon general, dies in NH

Source: AP

C. Everett Koop, who raised the profile of the surgeon general by riveting America's attention on the then-emerging disease known as AIDS and by railing against smoking, has died in New Hampshire at age 96.

An assistant at Koop's Dartmouth institute, Susan Wills, said he died Monday in Hanover, where he had a home. She didn't disclose his cause of death.

Koop wielded the previously low-profile post of surgeon general as a bully pulpit for seven years during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.

An evangelical Christian, he shocked his conservative supporters when he endorsed condoms and sex education to stop the spread of AIDS.

9. He was a champion of something called prolotherapy

He wrote an intro to a book on the technique where he described being skeptical about it until it actually worked for him to remove his pain. Prolotherapy is a controversial technique whereby a doctor injects salt water or other fluids into arthritic joints to promote scar tissue that stabilizes it and allegedly reduces pain. Some doctors promote it as a substitute for invasive surgery.

17. R.I.P.

18. Wow 96

And someone actually asked his cause of death? Hello, he was closing in on 100, maybe that was his cause of death? Good guy. Isn't he the one who put out those mailers about AIDS, really the first government attempt to try and bring awareness?

19. A good man

21. He actually wasn't bad. . . . .

Considering that he was Reagan's Surgeon General, one would have thought he would have been a disaster. . . . He stepped up to the plate regarding AIDS, and he was able to leave his conservative Christianity at the door when it came to medical issues.